Spirit Riders, Episode four: Divided choices
by chibiwriter
Summary: New guy in town...and he's interested in Jeanie. Now, for the first time, she had to learn to divide her time between her first crush and her friends. How's she gonna manage that? And what's up with Trev!
1. New Guy

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to Disney/Haim Saban**

It was Monday afternoon, and everyone but Jeanie was at the usual table outside of the cafeteria, at the back of the school. Trev was on his laptop, as always, while Jay sat on the table, his skateboard on his lap, fiddling with the wheels. Ris was beside him, eating his lunch. Eva and David sat side by side, talking and sharing her lunch.

"Where's Jeanie?" Ris asked suddenly, nipping a carrot stick in half.

"No idea," Trev replied, eyes on his laptop.

To look at, they were just a bunch of ordinary teens, on the cusp of adulthood – which is kind of the point. Jay was a tall, stocky boy of New Zealand descent, dressed in all black. Ris was a pretty girl with dark brown hair that tumbled in curling waves around her shoulders and hazel eyes. She had on a yellow top. Trev wore glasses that were now perched on the end of his nose. He was of Asian descent, with messy dark hair and wearing a rumpled green sweatshirt. Eva was a pretty brunette dressed in a light blue sleeveless top. David, with a shock of near white blond hair and slanted brown eyes, was dressed in a red t-shirt. Underneath their normal exteriors ran the blood of superheroes.

The five were five-sixths of the newest team of Power Rangers, fighting under the guidance of their mentor; Dayton. They, along with the normal host of Ranger talents, had the ability to control the powers of six legendary magical creatures; the phoenix, the minotaur, the centaur, the dragon, the unicorn and the griffin.

Added to that, four of them; David, Jay, Ris and Trev were students of two secret ninja academies and the off spring to Power Rangers; the Ninja Storm to be exact.

But right now, they were just a bunch of ordinary teens eating lunch together. And wondering where the last part of their team was.

"I think she's doing something for our homeroom teacher," Jay said. "Trev would know that if he bothered to take his head out of his books for five seconds." He shrugged. "Masterson said he wanted to see her after homeroom."

"Do you think she's in trouble?" Eva wondered aloud.

"Jeanie?" Jay snorted. "In trouble? Our Jeanie? Yeah, right. She's –"

"I'm what?" Jeanie asked, approaching the table. She wore a white top with pink writing slashing across it. Her red hair was tied back in a ponytail and her brilliant blue eyes sparkled behind glasses.

"Really, really clever." Jay finished with a goofy smile.

"Nice save," Ris said. "Lettuce leaf?"

"Why don't you get your own lunch?" He asked, taking the leaf from her fingers and biting into it.

"Your's is always so much nicer."

"What were you doing anyway?" David asked, watching Jeanie sit opposite him and Eva.

"Showing the new kid around," she replied, putting her tray of cafeteria food down.

"Oh yeah?" Jay asked, interested. "Guy or girl?"

"Guy," Jeanie answered twirling a fork in the spaghetti.

"Hmph." Abruptly disinterested once more, Jay whirled the wheel of his skateboard.

Ris grinned at David and Eva. "Where's he from?" She asked.

"Atlanta. What the hell is this sauce?" Her brow furrowed as she poked at her meal.

"Here," sympathetic, Eva pushed the rest of her lunch to Jeanie, ignoring David's protests. "What's he like?"

"Who?" Jeanie asked, picking up a fry.

"The new kid," Eva said, and didn't see David's frown.

"Pretty cute," Jeanie said in an off-handed manner. At Ris's startled exclamation, she looked up. "What?"

"Nothing," she replied, shooting a glance at Trev, who still busy typing away at his laptop.

"Define cute," Eva said.

"Hmm. Tall, dark hair, really nice eyes. Nice build," Jeanie added and had the pleasure of seeing David go red. "Why? Sound like your type?" David shot daggers at his cousin.

"Might," Eva replied cheerfully.

"Didn't…" David had to stop and clear his throat. "Didn't know you were in the market for a boyfriend."

Eva looked at him. "I'm not. Really. I was just asking for a description."

"Sure you were," Jay muttered. She glared at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," he replied, and used the excuse of a tomato slice to prevent her from forcing a real answer out of him.

"Where is he now?" Ris asked.

"In the cafeteria, getting some food."

"You just left him there?" Eva asked, sounding startled. It wasn't like Jeanie to do such a thing.

"Well," she polished off a fry. "I did give him directions to get here. It's his prerogative if he wants to join us."

"Shit!"

At Trev's exclamation, they turned to face him. "What's up?" Jeanie asked.

"My laptop's just crashed," he said through gritted teeth.

"That's what you get when you pile it with all those programmes designed to make it process better," Jeanie said.

"Urgh." With a disgruntled sound, he switched off his laptop and close the lid. "I'm taking it to the IT lab. Maybe I can reboot it with the internet." He picked it up and stalked off.

"He's got issues," Eva commented, watching him go. "It's like he's married to that laptop."

"Yeah," Jeanie said. "He's so committed he doesn't notice any _real_ girls." Grumpily, she finished Eva's fries.

Eva raised her brow. "Why don't you just tell him the truth?"

"I will when David does."

"What?" She looked at David, who glared at his cousin.

"Nothing," he muttered.

"Hey," Ris said suddenly, pointing. "Is that the new guy?"

Jeanie turned to face the direction she was pointing at. There was a guy walking towards their table, a tray in his hands. He was, just as Jeanie described him; tall, with dark hair and matching eyes, and really, really cute.

"Yep." She lifted a hand, waved at him. "Hey Eric."

"Hi." His smile was pure niceness. "What's up?"

"Just talking about boys and their idiot laptops." She replied. "Eric, these are my cousins; David," David smiled at him; "Eva," Eva nodded, "Jay," Jay look up and flashed his trademark grin, "and Ris." Ris waggled her fingers at him.

"Wait a minute," Eva said as something Jeanie had said occurred to her. "I'm not your cousin."

"You might as well be," Jeanie replied as Eric sat down next to her.

"So, Eric," Ris wriggled until she was closer to him. He looked startled when he realised her knees were touching his tray. "I heard you're from Atlanta."

"Um…yeah."

"Why'd you move here?"

"My dad got transferred here."

"Don't mind Ris," Jeanie said. "She got dropped on her head as a baby and since then, she's always acted like a loon."

"Hey!" Ris frowned but she didn't look too insulted.

"It's okay. I've got two sisters. I'm used to being interrogated."

Jeanie grinned. "Lucky you. I've got two brothers."

"You're the oldest," he asked in a half hopeful voice.

"Nope," Jay said in a gleeful voice. "The youngest."

"Oh. Um." He took a quick bite of his spaghetti. He made a face. "What the hell kind of sauce did they put on this thing?"

"Mystery sauce," Jeanie replied. "In that it's a mystery even to the cafeteria workers."

Eric laughed at that, and made David look at Eva with raised eyebrows. "What was that?" He murmured only for her ears. "It wasn't that funny."

"Maybe not," she murmured back. "But when a guy likes a girl, he laughs at whatever she says that's just the slightest bit funny."

"He…" David looked at Eric, at Jeanie, back to Eva. "He…You're not serious."

"Perfectly." She replied in a solemn voice.

"Wow." He blinked. "That's a bit weird."

"What is?" Jay asked.

"Eric's hitting on Jeanie." Eva replied.

"What?" Jay turned as red as David's shirt. "He's what?"

"I think that's our cue to leave," David said as Jeanie looked over at them. "Come on Jay."

"What?" Jay cursed and struggled as his cousin dragged him away. "No, wait, I haven't beat him up for hitting on – ow! Damnit David that hurt!"

Ris looked at Eva, who just shrugged. "I gotta get going too. I have to do research for my bio project." She stood up, took her container from Jeanie.

"I'll come too," Ris began sliding her butt off the table. "I need to research stuff for my sociology essay."

Jeanie gave her an arched look. "Isn't that due in tomorrow?"

"Yep," she replied in a cheerfully breezy voice and walked away with Eva.

Eric blinked at the now empty table, on which stood only the remains of Jay's lunch and his tray of barely touched cafeteria food. "Wow." He said. "Do I have some contagious disease or something?"

"No," Jeanie replied. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Yeah," Eric grinned at her. And she grinned back at him.

"Don't tell me you don't think it's not the slightest bit weird," David said. Sweat beaded his brow and slicked his hair. Eva bent back to avoid his right hook and snapped straight again.

"What?" She asked, blocking his left jab with her forearm and sweeping a leg under his. He responded with a slight hop and a slice to her belly. She danced away in time.

"That new guy…Eric," David said, blocking a well aimed shot at his jaw. "Hitting on Jeanie. Isn't that weird?"

"Let's see," Eva ducked to avoid his left hook and jabbed him in the belly. It was like hitting stone. "Cute, fairly intelligent guy hitting on pretty genius girl. Nope, can't see what's weird about that. Unless you don't think Jeanie's a genius."

"No, that's not what I meant." Huffing more from her words than the mock battle, he tried a roundhouse kick only to have her slide to the floor and attempt to slice his leg out from under him. "You're getting good."

"Thanks." Grinning, she flipped to her feet and hopped back, shifting from foot to foot, her fists raised like a boxer's. "You were saying."

"What I meant was," he stepped back to avoid her fist to his nose. "Whoa. Dangerously close," he warned. "Anyway, what I meant was that I can't ever remember a guy hitting on Jeanie. Not once." He added for emphasis.

"Maybe you just never noticed," she suggested, blocking his fist, twisting and attempting to hit his jaw again. He ducked. "I mean, _I_ had to tell you Eric was hitting on her."

"Yeah…well…" he frowned. "How can I be so oblivious?"

"Exactly the question I was asking myself," she said as Dayton called a halt to the practice bout.

They were in the exercise room of the command base – as Jay called it. Jay backed away from Ris and Jeanie got off Trev. Jay, catching her eye as she got to her feet, gave her a suggestive grin. She sent him a look that promised him slow, burning pain if he took it any further. He looked at Dayton and she smiled her own smile; a curling mean smile.

Ris, spotting it, said; "whoo. Scary smile."

"Been working on it," Jeanie said in an airy voice.

Dayton gave a polite cough designed to transfer their attention to him. They did so. "As always, Rangers, your fighting skills are exemplary."

Eva raised her brows and a hand. "Even mine?"

"Even yours," Dayton confirmed. "However…"

"Here it comes," Jeanie said in dry voice.

"Out of six of you, only two of you have discovered your powers."

"Hey," Ris spoke up. "What about me?"

He glanced at her. "Unfortunately Marissa, you only know what your power is. Only Trevor and Eva have accessed their powers."

"You know what I don't get," Jay piped up. He looked at Eva. "Actually, there's two things I don't get. One; how'd you find your power? I mean, Trev had to go real deep to find his. How'd you find yours?"

Eva shrugged. "Tell you the truth, I've always had it."

David frowned. "Explain." He said before he realised it sounded like an order. He winced but she didn't seem to notice.

"Well, I've always known things. I've never known them clearly, like I do now, but I know things when I touch something or someone. I guess I always had access to it, but like, a watered down version. Getting my Ranger powers just helped me gain, like, full access to it I guess."

"Whoa," Jeanie blinked, grinned. "Deep."

"Makes sense," Trev pointed out. "You probably chalked it down to women's intuition, didn't you?"

"Something like that," she admitted with a shrug. She turned back to Jay. "What's the second thing you don't get?"

"You said your mum's a bit of a hippy, so it means she's probably into health food and stuff right?" Jay said, ignoring Jeanie's and David's warning looks.

"Yeah," she said. "Tofu and all that crap."

"If she's into health foods and everything, then why does she give you all this junk food, like McDs, and KFC for lunch?"

Silence descended as the startled Power Rangers and their mentor just looked at him. "That," Jeanie said eventually. "Is just beyond random. Eva, you know you don't have to answer the idiot's question."

"No, it's okay. I'm just surprised he's the only one who's picked up on that."

Now Jay smirked while the others looked embarrassed. "Looks like I'm busted," Eva said. "Sure, my mum gives me all the health food crap for lunch but I usually throw it out and pick up something on the way." She shrugged. "I've been doing it for years but she still hasn't noticed anything. I'd like to keep that way," she added in a pointed voice.

"Sure," Jay agreed.

Trev spoke up. "How'd we get onto this?"

"Jay and his big mouth," Jeanie replied.

Ris looked at her. "Are you just feeling particularly nasty today or is it something else?" She asked her cousin.

Jeanie glared. "Just feeling particularly nasty," she said.

"Rangers," Dayton said. They looked at him. "I'm afraid that unless the other four gain access to their powers, we may never defeat Pleance."

"Don't worry so much Dayton," Jeanie said, confidence practically pouring off her. "We'll beat him. Rangers have always come out tops."

"Yeah," David nodded. "We'll do it. We'll do whatever it takes to keep the earth safe."

"Our parents did it before us," Trevor said in a quiet voice. "For everyone. There's no way we're gonna fail them."

The others nodded in agreement. Dayton looked at them; six grave faced teens stared right back at him. Slowly, he nodded. "To get closer to your power," he said, "it is a good idea to meditate."

Jay was the first to speak. "Oh man! Anything but that!"

Jeanie and Ris grinned. "C'mon Jay. Surely you can meditate for more than five seconds," Jeanie teased.

He glowered at them. "I can meditate for two hours and you know it."

Jeanie's grin turned wicked. "Prove it. Ten bucks."

"You're on," he immediately said as the others laughed.

Together, they lowered themselves to the floor of the exercise room and closed their eyes. As their features relaxed Dayton stood and watched. And hoped.


	2. Introductions and fights

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to Disney/Haim Saban**

"Where's Jeanie?"

This sudden question came from Trev, who'd finally torn himself away from his book – his laptop for once not with him – and startled everyone into looking around foolishly.

It was Thursday and they were at the park. Trev was reading, his book on the picnic table, seated on the adjoining bench. Ris and David were seated on the table, facing away from him, talking to Ris, who was sitting beside David's legs, and Jay, who was reclining on the grass.

Eva, David and Ris twisted to look round at him. Eva was the one who answered; "I think she's with Eric."

Trev frowned. "Who?"

"Eric," Ris supplied. "You know, the totally cute new guy?"

He blinked. "_Who?_"

"Eric," Ris repeated patiently but David stopped her before she could take it too far.

"He asked her to show him around town," David informed his clueless cousin. "She agreed and said she'll be bringing him here later."

"Why?"

Now it was David's turn to blink. "Why what?" He asked.

"Why's she bringing him here?" Trev's voice was almost accusatory.

"Um…because she wants to?" Ris finally ventured after a long moment's silence.

"How many times have we known or understood the logic behind Jeanie's actions and decisions?" David wondered aloud.

"Zero to none," Jay replied from the ground.

Trev frowned and marked his place in his book – a dark signal of more questioning. "Who's this Eric guy?"

"The new guy," Ris immediately replied.

"What's his last name?" This was fired as a challenge.

"Vasquez." They all looked at Eva. She shrugged. "He's in my Economics class."

"Okay. Where's he from?"

"Atlanta," Ris replied.

"Why'd he move here?"

"Dad's job," David said.

"How many siblings?"

"Two sisters," Jay answered.

"Where does he live?"

They looked at each other. "No idea," David admitted.

Eva frowned. "Why the big brother act?"

Trev blinked at her. "What?"

"You're acting like her big brother. I'd expect Declan to act like this, not you." Eva smiled innocently. "It's almost like you're –"

"Guys!" Jeanie's voice interrupted Eva and they turned to watch her approach.

And, sure enough, Eric was beside her, almost touching. No one but Eva – from the corner of her eye – saw Trev frown even harder. "You remember Eric."

Everyone but Trev said something to the affirmative. "No."

"Oh, yeah." Jeanie looked at him, brows furrowing at his uncharacteristic shortness. "You flew away to cure your precious laptop before he came. Well, Eric, this is Trev. Trev, Eric. Trev's another of my cousins." She added to Eric.

"Honorary," Trev said with a mock smile.

David looked at Eva with raised eyebrows. Trev had never felt the need to add that before.

Jeanie sat on the bench next to Eva's legs while Eric chose to sit next to Jay. A good call, Eva thought, considering Trev's state of mind. It both irritated and delighted her. Irritated because, heck, it was pretty annoying. Delighted because it meant Jeanie's feelings for Trev were probably not unrequited.

"Where'd you guys go?" Ris asked curiously, looking past David's and Eva's legs to Jeanie.

"Around," Jeanie replied.

"We went to the Sea Shack," Eric supplied. "And Juice It."

"And Storm Chargers," Jeanie added.

"Hey, my dad works there!" Ris said.

"I know," Eric said with a smile. "I met him and he gave him some tips on motocross."

"You ride?" Trev asked, raising his eyebrows.

"A bit," Eric replied in a genial voice. He didn't seem to notice the fighting tone of Trev's voice. Everyone else did though and Jeanie turned her head to glare at him while David gave him a warning look. Trev subsided with a look that suggested he was sulking.

They ignored it. "Ris could teach you," Jay said. "She's the best. Or Jeanie. She's pretty good as well."

"Oh yeah?" Eric looked at Jeanie, who shrugged. She preferred to boast of her talent with electronics rather than on the track. "You didn't mention it."

"I didn't think of it," she said in a sweet voice.

Then a strange beeping tune filled the air, putting a stop to Eric's next words. The Rangers froze. Crap.

Thinking quickly – because it was his communicator that had beeped – David took out his phone and lifted it to his ear. "Hello? Oh, hey mum. At the park. Uh-huh? Oh man, I'm sorry. I completely fazed out. Yeah, they're with me. Yeah, we'll be right there. Sorry." He added before slipping the phone back into his pocket. "Crap, guys, remember that party we're supposed to help my mum set up for?" They looked at him blankly. "Remember?" He said urgently. "The _dragon_ themed one?"

Their expressions cleared. "Oh yeah!" Jay said, first to pick up the bait for once. "Crap, I totally forget."

Even Ris understood. She leapt to her feet. "We'd better get going now!"

Eric stared at them, clearly puzzled. "What-?" He managed as they all got to their feet.

"I'll see you later," Jeanie said as a way to reassure him.

They raced off, leaving only very confused and very cute guy lying in the grass. "Man," David panted ducking into a grove of trees. Everyone followed suit. "That was just too close." He lifted his wristlet, placed two fingers on it. "What is Dayton?"

"Rangers," Dayton acknowledged them. "There are Frissons and a monster attacking people in the downtown area."

"Wow," Jay said. "Looks like they've graduated from terrorising empty warehouses."

David rolled his eyes at his cousin's statement. "We'll be right there Dayton. Ready?" He asked his team mates. A flash of red light enveloped his wrist, turning his bracelet with its red lines to his morpher.

Everyone imitated his stance. "Ready!"

"Dragon Rider, Ranger Form!"

"Griffin Rider, Ranger Form!"

"Unicorn Rider, Ranger Form!"

"Phoenix Rider, Ranger Form!"

"Minotaur Rider, Ranger Form!"

"Centaur Rider, Ranger Form!"

Blazes of colours hid the six teens; red, blue, pink, yellow, black and green. And, when they subsided, the new team of Rangers stood in their place.

"Come on," David, dressed in the Red Dragon suit, said. "Let's go kick some Frisson butt."

Under his visor, Jay's lips spread into a wicked grin. "I book the monster."

"First come, first serve," Eva taunted in reply before they disappeared in dizzying flashes of light.

Sure enough, there was a mass of Frissons, with their strange stretched faces and sharp claws for fingernails, rampaging their way through downtown. The monster accompanying them was a beaut; a mix between a giant teddy bear and marshmallows, with a big furry tail sweeping the ground and knocking objects behind it.

The Rangers paused a few feet away to watch them. "Man," Jay said. "Where does Pleance find these losers?"

"Who cares?" David asked. "It's time to take them out."

"Oi, freak!" Jeanie yelled, calling the monster's attention to them. "Why don't you stop fighting those tables and chairs and come after something that actually hits back?"

"Why Jeanie?" Ris moaned. "Why do you have to antagonize it?"

Eva shrugged. "At least it makes this more interesting."

"Go!" David yelled as the Frissons and monster neared them.

At the command, they launched into action.

Eva launched herself into the air, closely followed by Jay. They both managed to kick a leg out, slamming their feet against the monster at the same time, making it stagger back under the surprise attack. The others threw themselves into the fray, taking on the countless Frissons swarming them.

David ducked one's wild swing, chuckling silently when it managed to swipe another coming behind him. "Hey," Ris said suddenly. "Do you think they can talk?"

"Why," Trev asked, slamming his foot into one's face and watching it explode into tiny shards, "are you asking that?"

"I don't think," Jeanie preformed a quick split, grabbed the legs of two Frissons and pulled, toppling them over, "that even if they could talk, they'd like to engage in a civil conversation over tea."

"It was just a question," Ris said, a little stung. She preformed a tidy back flip and kicked, managing to take three Frissons in one blow. "Seeing as they have mouths, I just wondered."

"Got to say," David said, turning his body and grabbing the arm of a Frisson that tried to punch him, he swung it, propelling the Frisson into others, "I can see her point."

"Me too," Trev agreed, jumping to two Frissons kicking at him.

"I kinda see it too," Jeanie said reluctantly, taking out four Frissons with a roundhouse kick. "Hey, maybe one day, we should kidnap one and make it talk."

"Yeah!" Ris grinned behind her visor as she took care of two Frissons. "Maybe it can tell us all about Pleance's evil plan."

"Sure…" Trev said in a dry voice and, in his helmet, he raised his eyebrows. He slammed his foot into a Frisson's chest, delivered a side kick to another's head.

"I doubt that they'd talk," David said, punching a Frisson in the face. "And next time, Jeanie? Don't play around with Ris's mind."

"Fine." Jeanie said in a sulky voice. She slammed two Frissons' heads together and grinned evilly when they exploded. "You're no fun."

Suddenly, Jay and Eva came flying away from the monster. Eva landed on David. Jay landed on some Frissons.

Eva leapt to her feet and helped David up. Trev and Jeanie slammed their fists and feet into the Frissons before they could hurt Jay and Ris helped him up. The Frissons retreated suddenly, grouping behind the monster.

Warily, the Rangers lined themselves up so they faced the monster and Frissons. "This doesn't look good," David muttered.

"I say we form the Spirit Cannon and blast this jerk back to whatever hole Pleance found him in," Jay said in a vicious voice.

"Got to say," Eva said, keeping an eye on the monster, "I agree with Jay."

"Let's do it," Trev volunteered. Jeanie and Ris agreed with him.

David placed his fingers on the gem on his glove. "Dragon's Sword!"

"Minotaur's Sabre!"

"Unicorn's sling!"

"Centaur's staff!"

"Phoenix's Daggers!"

"Griffin's Bow!"

"Attack!" The monster roared before they could put their weapons together to assemble the Spirit Cannon.

The Frissons sprang forwards. Jeanie and Eva stepped back. David cleaved one in two with his sword. Jay slammed the flat of his heavy sabre into one's head. Trev put his staff to good use by using the butt to shove away a Frisson coming to close and then smacking another over the head. Ris became a whirling tornado, her sharp blades slicing into any Frisson she made contact with.

Jeanie had started swinging her identical slings as soon as the monster had bellowed attack. Now she left loose with consecutive blasts of lights which slammed into the Frissons, destroying them. Eva fit bolt after bolt of bright blue lights to her bow and let them loose. The lights – which became lasers – caused explosion after explosion of Frisson pieces.

With Jeanie and Eva systematically firing off lasers, and David, Trev, Jay and Ris putting their weapons to good use, the last of Frissons soon fell in shining shards around the Rangers. Leaving the monster defenceless.

With a growl, it let loose a series of laser blasts, which the rangers jumped to avoid. By the time they landed, it had disappeared.

Panting, Jay lifted a fist to the sky. "Coward!"


	3. He asked me out!

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to Disney/Haim Saban**

It was Friday and the end of school. There had been nothing from Pleance since the attack the day before. David, waiting outside the school with Eva, voiced his concern. "Why'd it retreat?" He asked. "They've never done that before."

"Pleance must be up to something," she replied, frowning.

Approaching them, Jay rolled his eyes. "He's always up to something." He said, putting an arm around David's neck. "If we could figure out _what_ he's up to…"

David shrugged his arm off. "That," he said, "would solve all our problems."

"It's obvious _what_ Pleance is up to," Ris said as she joined them.

"What?" Jay asked in a sceptical voice.

"The destruction of earth, duh." She rolled her eyes.

"Not his ultimate goal, Ris," David said. "Just what he's up to now."

"Oh." She frowned. "Then I have no idea."

"Trev?" David asked as he joined them as David's beat up van. "You got any ideas?"

"On what?" He asked. He was wearing his customary laptop bag.

"On what Pleance's plan is."

"No." He frowned. "The monster might have been able to take us. It makes no sense for it to retreat without even trying."

"Unless it went AWOL," Jay suggested. They looked at him. "What? It could happen."

"Then would we have reports of monster sighting all over town?" David asked.

"Not necessarily," Trev said. "Not unless it went into another dimension or something like that."

"Then we have nothing to worry about," Ris said.

"I can only wish," David heaved a sigh and let his head fall back, hitting it on the side of the van.

"Hey," Eva said. "There's Jeanie."

And sure enough, the Pink Ranger was barrelling out of the school, her face alight with excitement. She looked around wildly, sighted them and started running.

"Looks like she has something to tell us," Jay said in a bland voice.

Trev narrowed his eyes as she flung herself on Eva. "Guess what, guess what?" She said in a totally un-Jeanie-like squeal. "Guess what?"

"What?" Ris said, Jeanie's excitement contagious. "What?"

"Eric asked me out!"

"What?" The three boys chorused; all with varying looks of outrage and disbelief on their faces. The girls ignored them.

"That's great!" Eva hugged Jeanie back. "When?"

"Tomorrow." Jeanie stepped back and took a deep breath, one hand on her racing heart. "We're going bowling, then to a movie. And lunch in between."

"Isn't this a bit fast?" Jay asked suddenly. "I mean, you've only known the guy a week."

Jeanie turned, burnt him with a laser glare. He took a quick step back.

"We've only known Eva, what, three weeks? And she's as close as Ris is to me."

"That's different," David insisted.

"Point there," Ris pointed out. "But if you guys are worried Eric'll come on to her –,"

"Which he won't," Jeanie interrupted.

"Don't," Ris continued like Jeanie hadn't spoken. "Jeanie can more than take care of herself."

"Yep," Eva added. She crossed her arms when they didn't look convinced. Jeanie and Ris adopted their own belligerent stances.

Trev, who hadn't said anything yet, looked at them with calm eyes. "I don't have anything to say about this guy asking you out," he began. "As long as you tell your dad."

"Fine," Jeanie said, confident in her ability to wrap Hunter around her little finger.

Trev couldn't help but smirk as they all got in the van.

"NO! No, no, no, no, no! There's no way in _hell_ are you going out with him! No way you're going out with _any_ boy! No!"

"Wow," Ris said in a quiet voice, watching from a corner of Jeanie's living room. "I've never seen Uncle Hunter lose it like this."

"No way in _hell_," Hunter repeated, just in case Jeanie hadn't heard him the first time.

"Dad," she tried.

"No!"

"But –,"

"No!"

"Hunter!" Carla finally chose to speak, getting to her feet in one smooth move. "Hunter, be reasonable."

"No!" He turned to her. "She's too young to date!"

This time it was Jeanie's turn to leap to her feet. "I'm sixteen!"

"_Way_ too young," Hunter amended.

Carla's eyes narrowed. Jay recognized that look. It was the one Jeanie gave him every time he did or said something she deemed inappropriate. "Hunter." She said in a low voice. "I think we need to discuss this. Privately." She added, emphasizing the word.

"So!" David said in a too bright voice, exploding to his feet. "I'm hungry. Anyone else hungry?"

"I'm starved," Ris chirped, jumping to her feet as well.

Everyone got up and hurriedly filed into the kitchen, closing the door behind them. "Do you think my dad will be like that when I ask if I can go on a date?" Ris wondered aloud as she walked to the fridge and opened the door.

"I think all dads are like that," Eva said, taking the packet of crisps Jeanie tossed to her. "My dad practically exploded when I told him I was going out on my first date."

Jay glanced at her, one hand in an open packet of crisps. "How old were you?"

"Thirteen."   
David spluttered, spewing Coke all over the counter. "Ew," Ris said while Jeanie cleaned it up and handed David a tissue to wipe his face.

"Thirteen?" He rasped, turning to look at Eva.

She shrugged. "So?"

"Nothing," he backed down, recognising the light of battle in her eyes.

"What do you think they're saying?" Jeanie asked apprehensively, looking at the closed door, from which she could hear muffled sounds of voices and thudding.

"No idea," Ris offered.

"Very helpful." She turned away from the door to glare at Trev. "This is all your fault Trevor Watanabe."

"Huh? What?" Genuinely startled, Trev turned from the open cupboard, where he'd been debating between the packet of Oreos and Hershey's Kisses.

"This is all your fault," she repeated, striding so she was almost toe to toe with him.

"Hey," he lifted his hands in surrender. "I'm the one who suggested you _don't_ tell him straight after ninja practice. You know how wound tight he is afterwards. Whoa!" He took a step back when she lifted a fist. "Jeanie, come one, it's not that big a deal."

"It's her first ever date," Eva said. "It's a very big deal."

"I could hit you Trev," Jeanie said. "I seriously could."

"Jeanie," David spoke in a quiet voice but everyone still turned to look at him. "How serious are you about this guy?"

"His name's Eric," she said through gritted teeth. "And I'm pretty serious. He's cute, clever and he likes me. And he doesn't annoy me." She added.

Because her back was to Trev, she didn't notice the expression that crossed his face. Ris, Eva, Jay and David noticed, though, and they all glanced at each other. But David said; "just be careful, 'kay?"

"I will," she promised. "If I _can_ go." She looked at the kitchen door.

On cue, it opened to reveal a serene looking Carla and a sulky looking Hunter. "Your dad and I talked," she said. "And we both agree that it's time for you to experience new things."

Jeanie grinned. "So I can go?"

"Yes," her mum confirmed. "You can go."

"Yes!" She did a quick imitation of Jay by pumping her fists in the air. "Come on Ris, Eva. You have to help me choose what to wear." She grabbed the girls and dragged them upstairs.

"Man…" Jay blinked. "Jeanie's gone all girly." He and David shared a look. "Weird," they both said.

"Man…" Hunter groaned. "What have I done? My baby…"

"Sooo…." Jay said, drawing out the word. "Jeanie's on her date right now, right?"

"Right," Trev said glumly.

They – they being David, Jay and Trev – were in Jay's game room. Right beside it was his bedroom. As Jay liked to say – being an only child was one of the best and worse jobs in the world.

"What're they doing?" Jay asked.

"Bowling and movie," Trev said.

Jay and David were competing for first place in Need For Speed Carbon. But it looked like only David was really serious about the game; Jay seemed to spending much of his time needling Trev about Jeanie's date with Eric. And enjoying the results far too much.

"Know what movie?" He asked.

"No." Now there was an edge on Trev's voice.

Jay took heed of the warning and spent the next thirty second concentrating on the game. But, before he could mess with Trev again, a familiar tune rose above the screeches and music of the game.

David automatically hit pause before raising his wrist to his mouth and pressing down on the bracelet. "What's up Dayton?"

"The monster is back and it is now in town central."

"Gotcha. Call the others. Me, Jay and Trev will be right there." After signing off, he looked at the two boys. "Wanna go kick some monster butt?"

A wide grin spread on Jay's face and he tossed his controller to the couch. "Let's go!"


	4. Where's Jeanie?

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to Disney/Haim Saban**

By the time they arrived at the scene, the monster had steadily marched its way to Blue Harbour Shopping Mall and was now in the outer food court, happily destroying any tables and chairs in its way while hordes of people scrambled for cover. "Do you think it's got something against tables and chairs?" David asked under his breath as they ducked into the nearest alley.

"Who cares?" Jay asked. "Let's go take care of this asshole."

"Agreed." Trev said.

"Ready?" David asked, arm braced across his chest, bracelet changing to morpher.

"Ready!" They answered.

"Dragon Rider, Ranger Form!"

"Minotaur Rider, Ranger Form!"

"Centaur Rider, Ranger Form!"

The brilliant flashes of light enveloped the boys and, when they ran out of the alley, they were clad in their Power Ranger suits. Jay viewed the monster though the limited scope of his visor. "So…it looks like this thing didn't go AWOL."

"Looks it," Trev said, eyes narrowed. "Let's get rid of it."

"With you all the way," Jay agreed and, as one, all three charged.

David hit it first, with a flying kick aimed for its chest. Trev made contact next, slamming his fists in a quick one-two snap on its jaw. Jay merely threw himself on the monster, slamming his joined hands into its belly.

They jumped back to face it again. It slammed its giant teddy bear paws together, sending off a laser straight for the guys. They leapt to avoid it, Jay rolling forward and slamming his boot into the monster's shin, then flipped back. David pulled him up and they made a quick hop back to avoid the next laser blast.

"Bastard's more aggressive," Jay panted out.

"I still wanna know why he backed off last time," Trev muttered as he surged forward, zig-zagging to avoid the various laser blasts aimed to him. He jumped, aiming a kick to the monster's head but missing – barely – and grazing its excuse for a cheek before its paw came up and swiped him away.

He landed with a sickening thump on the concrete sidewalk. David and Jay yelled – barely remembering not to use his name – and ran forward, only to be hit by consecutive laser blast, ploughing them to the concrete.

Jay was first up and running to the monster, one arm lifted to shield his face from the sparks of the laser blasts the monster sent his way. David cried out a warning seconds before one caught his cousin on the shoulder.

Eva and Ris, already powered up, arrived on the scene just in time to see Jay slam into the concrete. They took in the view in one glance. Trev, lying still on the ground. Jay, not moving from the blast. David struggling to his feet, one hand pressed to his belly.

"Crap." Ris muttered.

"I say it's time to bring out the big guns," Eva declared, pressing one hand to the gem on her glove.

"Agreed," Ris said.

"Griffin's Bow!"

"Phoenix's Daggers!"

With bright coloured flashes, their weapons appeared in their hands. Eva lifted her bow to her eye and, with her head cocked, let arrow after bright blue arrow fly. They hit their target head on, causing little explosions all over the monster's body. It stumbled back and Ris leapt over.

Eva ran to David, her bow disappearing as if sensing she no longer had need for it. "You okay?" She asked, helping him up.

"I'm fine," he replied in a curt voice. "Trev. Jay."

"You go get Trev," she said. "I'll wake Jay up."

They separated, David to Trev, Eva to Jay. She knelt over the prone black ranger. "Jay," she said, shaking his shoulder. "Damnit Jay, wake the hell up!"

As if he'd heard her, he groaned, rolled over. "Shit." He managed. "What happened? Don't tell me I fainted."

"Fine," she replied. "I'll let David say it then."

"Trev?"

She glanced over, saw him sit up, helmet in his gloved hands while David knelt beside him. "He's fine."

"Good." Jay's voice was grim as he turned to look where Ris was battling the monster. It looked like the tide was about to turn – against her. "Let's go make the asshole pay."

"You and I," Eva said, helping him up. "Are in perfect agreement.

"Minotaur's Sabre!"

"Griffin's Bow!"

Eva lifted her bow to her eyes just as Ris fell back with a cry. "Bastard," she muttered under her breath and let the arrows fly.

They rained down on the monster, making it take step after stumbled step back as explosions racked its body. Intent on only one thing – revenge – Jay surged forward, his sabre's deadly blade slashing at the monster. Slice after slice opened on the monster's body, only to close up again. Panting, Jay jumped back to join Eva and Ris. David and Trev stepped forward to make a line.

"Dragon's Sword!"

"Centaur's Staff!"

They all attacked at once, working as a team and using one's retreat to further another's attack. David sliced the monster, pulled back to let Eva shoot an arrow straight into the open wound. Jay opened it up as well, turned and gave Trev a chance to slam his staff into the same place. Ris slashed at it, opening little wounds the others could enlarge or attack in their own way.

No one noticed the giant marshmallow stuck in the monster's belly glowing until it exploded, sending them flying back. It let out a laugh – its first sound – as they crashed to the ground. Then Jeanie came running up, already suited up, with her slings flying. She let loose a stream of pink lights that hit the monster over and over.

Before she could start another stream of attack, the monster disappeared.

With varying groans of pain, the others gained their feet and stood facing her. As one, they all said; "Power down."

For a long time, no one said a word. Then Trev, with fire in his eyes, took a step forward and asked in a low vicious tone that Eva had never heard him use; "where in _hell_ have you fucking been?"


	5. Better be a good explanation

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to Disney/Haim Saban**

"Look," Jeanie said. "I can explain."

"It better be good," Jay cut through in an ominous voice. Leaning against the command base's wall, he looked very much like his dad in a dark, dark mood.

They were all at the command base, where Dayton had taken care of the worst of their wounds; Trev a nasty gash along his brow line and Jay a few serious burns on his arm and shoulder. Now they were scattered through the large cavern Dayton called home, with Jeanie standing in the middle.

She took a deep breath to steady herself. Though she'd never admit it, her stomach was flipping and twisting sickeningly, especially when she looked at the bandages on her friends and honorary cousins, the whiteness of them stark again Jay's dark skin, Trev's golden complexion. "You guys all know I had a date with Eric –"

"Don't," Trev bit out, gaining his feet in such a quick vicious move that Ris held out her hands in worry, "tell us you didn't come because you were _on a date?_"

"It's not like that –"

"Like what?" He took a step forwards, then another until he was right in her face. "It's not like some guy you met – what? – a _week_ ago is more important to you than us?"

"Of course not!"

"Then tell us," he shouted right back. "Tell us why you weren't there!"

"Because I was with him!"

That stopped him, made him take a quick step back. Then; "you were having _sex_ with him?"

Everyone stared at Jeanie's pale shocked face. "What? Of course not."

"Then _why_?"

"Trev…"

He ignored David's warning. "Why is that jerk more important to you than us?"

"He's not a jerk and it's not like that!"

"What's it like then?"

"He's my first boyfriend!" Because she screamed it with eyes screwed shut and her hands fisted, Trev had no reply. "Do you know what it's like, to have no guy look at you like Eric looks at me? I've never had that until he came along! Hell, _Ris_ has had guys hit on her, but not me. Never me. Until now. And, so help me, I wanted more. I like how he makes me feel. That's why I didn't come running as soon as Dayton called!"

"So…" Trev looked astounded, then angry, and quickly working up to furious. "So, you left us fighting a monster who's one of the hardest we've come across because you wanted some stupid teenage crush feeling to go on?" He roared the word at her.

"That's not what I meant! I just meant…" she pressed a fist to her heart, trying to find words to suit what she wanted to say. "He's the first guy I've ever gone on a date with. The first guy who likes me enough to ask me to be his girlfriend. I'm sorry if I didn't want to mess that up by running out on our first date!" Now she was pissed as well.

David opened his mouth, closed it, knowing it was hopeless to try stop them.

"You'd risk the end of the world for a _date_?"

"It's not like you'd understand! How the hell can I expect you to understand? You're so stuck on your stupid laptop and those damn programmes of yours that you don't see anything unless it's in the binary code, even if it's right in your face!"

"Don't you get it?" He screamed. "We nearly _died_!"

Jeanie rocked back on her heels, face pale and eyes wide, as if he'd sucker punched her. She'd have preferred it if he had. Without a word, she ran for the stairs. Silently, the portal opened, and then closed. Everyone left in the cavern was silent for a long tense moment.

Finally, David stood up. All eyes turned to him, watching as he walked towards Trev, placed a hand on his shoulder. "Trev," he said in a quiet voice. "It's not that I'm pissed at Jeanie. I don't want to say it but I am. But I can kind of understand what she's going through. Eric's important to her. Emotionally, probably as important to her as what we're doing."

"She's a teenager," Ris reminded them. She stood up, followed by Eva. "For us girls, that means a bag of emotions that's all messed up and not making sense. For once, Jeanie followed those emotions instead of her head, like she usually does. I'm not saying it's right, but I am saying I'd probably have done the same."

"So would I." Eva added. She looked at wall, where the portal hid. "And I think she needs to know that."

"I'll go talk to her," David started towards the door but the girls shook their heads at him.

"This," Eva said with a wry grin. "Needs a girl's gentle touch."

They disappeared through the portal, leaving four silent and very wary, males.

Upon emerging from the portal, Eva and Ris looked around the empty lot, searching for a certain red head. "Up here," a voice called.

They looked up, saw Jeanie sitting on the high fence separating the empty lot from the next one. She gave them a tiny smile. "I figured they'd send someone after me."

"Nope," Ris chirped. "We volunteered."

They jumped onto the fence, one on each side of the pink ranger. "Hey," Eva touched Jeanie's arm. "How're you feeling?"

She made a face. "Really, really, really small." She looked up into the sky but Ris could tell she wasn't really seeing it. "And stupid. I know," she smirked, looking at them. "I'm supposed to be the smart one. But what I did was really stupid."

"No," Ris said. Her cousin gave her a look. "Okay, maybe it was kind of stupid. But you followed your feelings."

"Yeah. And look where it got me."

"Jeanie." At Eva's soft voice, she turned to look at her. "We're not blaming you…"

"But I did a really selfish thing," she interrupted.

"No." Eva frowned. "I wasn't going to say that. I mean, sure it's true but…"

"Look." With a heave, Jeanie jumped off the fence, landing with perfect grace on the weedy ground lot. She tossed her hair back with an impatient shake of her head. "I know what to do."

"What?" Ris asked, jumping down from the fence as well. Eva followed suit. "What is it?"

"I'll have to break up with Eric."

"What?" Eva and Ris chorused, stunned.

"I'll have to break up with him." She ran her hands down her face. "It's the only thing I can do. It's obvious I can't juggle a boyfriend and my ranger duties. Look what nearly happened when I tried." She turned to face them. "You guys nearly died."

"But you got there Jeanie," Ris said. "You were a little late but you got there in the end."

"Yeah," her lips twisted. "In the end."

"Jeanie." Eva sighed. "What Trev said…he was pissed. And riding on some emotions he's been kind of not accepting. Right now. He didn't mean what he said."

"Yeah. He did. I've known him all my life Eva." Jeanie let out a little huff of breath. "He might not have said it that way. But he meant it all the same. And the thing is…he's right. You guys were almost destroyed because of my selfishness. I can't do this. I can't have him but lose you. I have to break up with him. I told him I'd meet up with him at Storm Chargers. Because. You know, our date got cut short. I kind of ran out before we got to the…lunch part. I'll go there now. And. Well, you know." She breathed out again, before walking towards the road.

"Jeanie!" Ris took a quick step forward before Eva could stop her.

"I don't think," the blue ranger said in a worried voice, "anything can stop her. You know Jeanie."

"Yeah," Ris said in a sad voice. "She'll do whatever it takes to make anything right. Even if it's the wrong thing."

Helpless to change her mind, the two girls watched as Jeanie walked down the road. To break Eric's heart.

* * *

_Author's note: I'm having a bit of a problem with Jeanie's explanation here...I might repost this chapter. So watch out!_


	6. Detention

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to Disney/Haim Saban**

"This sucks."

At David's unexpected announcement – because, hell, he _was_ quite reserved – Eva and Ris turned to look at him. They were in homeroom, waiting for the final bell to ring and their homeroom teacher to register them. David had been pacing the back of the room with the restless energy Eva was more used to seeing in Jay.

"What?" Ris asked, sitting on her desk. "What sucks?"

"This." With a disgusted expression, he thumped down on his chair, beside his cousin. Eva sat on Ris's other side. "Trev's been hiding himself either in his room or in the computer labs. Jeanie…hell, I don't know where she's been hiding. The only people I've see at all this week is Jay." He glared at them. "'Cause you guys've been hiding as well. Do you know what it's _like_ to be stuck with Jay for three days _alone_?"

"Hey." Ris frowned. "That's kind of mean."

"No," Eva corrected. "It's _really_ mean."

David frowned. "I'm serious guys. Where've you been?"

"With Jeanie," Ris said with a shrug.

"Let me repeat; where have you been." He leaned forward under he was almost in his cousin's face.

Eva leaned back in her chair so she could see him better. "Calm down David," she said with a frown. "Jeanie didn't feel like hanging out with you guys, and we didn't want her to be alone so we've been hanging out at the bleachers. Don't you and Jay dare turn up there until she's ready to see your ugly mugs, okay?"

"Ugly…?" David said, looking momentarily hurt.

"It's kind of hard, though." Ris frowned. "She's been so down ever since she broke up with Eric –"

"She what?"

"Broke up with Eric," Ris repeated, looking startled at David's exclamation. "Didn't she tell you?"

"No." He shook his head. "I haven't seen or talked to her ever since…well. _That_. She broke up with him? As in, he dumped her?"

"Don't jump to conclusions," Eva said. "_She_ left _him_."

"Why?" He frowned. "I thought she really liked him."

"She does." Ris pulled her legs up so they were tucked under her. "But she said she couldn't juggle her…um…clubs," she decided, "and having a boyfriend. So she picked her clubs. She picked us."

"And she's regretting it." Feeling anger bubbling, David struggled to squash it. "Bad time. Isn't she?"

"Yeah." Ris admitted. She kicked her legs. "Pretty bummed."

"Like I said," he leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms across his chest. "This sucks. Trev's either sulking or feeling guilty. And Jeanie's _definitely_ feeling guilty. How're we supposed to beat the bad guys if we can't even get two of our members in the same room together?"

"We could," Ris suggested, "if we lock them in a room together."

"You _do_ realise that only works in movies." Eva pointed out. "In _romance_ movies."

"Exactly!" Ris beamed.

"Urgh." Eva thunked her head on her desk. "I give up."

Their homeroom teacher walked into the room seconds before the finale bell run. Ris quickly slid into her chair as he began to talk. Eva, Ris and David continued their conversation below his monotone drone.

"What're we supposed to do?" Eva asked in a whisper. "And may I suggest _not_ taking up Ris's suggestion?"

"Like I would," David replied, stung.

"Hey!" Ris said, doubly stung.

"Mr. Bradley, Ms. Brooks, Ms. Stevens!" At their teacher's voice, they jumped, swung surprised filled eyes to him. "Have you been listening to a word I've been saying?"

Unable to say anything that wouldn't make them look even more guilty, they stayed silent. And condemned themselves. "I see the answer is yes. And because of that, you've all landed yourselves a detention."

David's and Ris's mouths fell open. For all her late slips, Ris had never gotten a detention. And David had never been in enough trouble to gain a detention ever. Eva just sighed. She, unfortunately, had had detentions before.

"Great."

"You had to say it," David muttered. "You _had_ to say it."

Eva frowned at him. "It just slipped out, okay? It was a do before you think thing."

"It's something I'd expect Ris to do. Or Jay. Not you."

"Hey." Now Ris frowned. "Just 'cause you're feeling pissy doesn't mean you should take it out on others."

"Got a point." Eva said.

They were, of course, in detention. After school, thanks to Eva's comment. The teacher had fallen asleep, much to the teens' consternation at first. But, by the reaction of the others in detention, in other words, no reaction at all, they'd realised it was a normal occurrence and began talking. Or, in David's case, more like grousing.

"Why are you taking her side?" David complained.

"Because I like her better," Eva replied with a smirk.

Ris gave him a huge sarcastic grin. He sighed and let his head fall onto the table. "Great. I'm surrounded by enemies."

As soon as he made that whinge, a strange beeping tune filled the room. Luckily, it wasn't that loud but it was enough to make the three teens jump. "Man," David very much snarled. "Cover me or something."

"Oh yeah. That's _so_ easy," Eva replied. But she and Ris did crowd in until David wasn't so open.

He lifted his wrist to his mouth, put two fingers on the bracelet he always wore. "What is it Dayton?"

"The monster has returned to the downtown area."

"We'll be right there. As soon as we figure out how to sneak out of detention," he added in a mutter. "Call the others." There was silence on the other end, making David's brow furrowed. "What's wrong Dayton?"

"Jeanie is already on her way. She was here with me, working on her meditation, when the alert came. She's going to fight the monster alone."

"What?" David's eyes widened.

He quickly stood up, Eva and Ris following. "Let's get out of here," Eva said in a grim voice, heading for the door

"Wait," Ris stared at her. "You're not just going to walk out, are you?"

Eva, hand on the doorknob, shrugged. "Why not?" She opened and the door and walked out.

David and Ris looked at each other, shrugged and followed her. All the other students in detention watched the three newcomers just walk out, looked at each other, before racing for the door.

And the teacher on duty didn't even wake up.


	7. Why the hell would she do this?

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to Disney/Haim Saban**

"Why the hell would she do this?" Eva asked as they ran from the school grounds.

"To make it right." David replied in a grim voice as he began to increase his speed. The girls followed his lead until they were running as fast as their ranger powers allowed. They had to make sure they were in an isolated area if they wanted to ninja streak. And David had to carry Eva when they did.

"Why?" Eva persisted, still not satisfied. "Going after the monster alone is a stupid thing to do – and Jeanie's anything but stupid."

"To make things right," Ris repeated what David said. "She wasn't there for us when we needed her and this is her way to correcting it."

"Dumping Eric wasn't enough for her?" Eva yelled out in frustration.

"She's Jeanie. Nothing's ever enough for her." David replied in a grim voice. "Okay, time to morph," he said as they reached the downtown area.

Eva spotted the alley first and dashed into it, quickly followed by the others. "Right." David braced his arm across his chest. "Ready?!"

"Ready!"

"Dragon Rider, Rang Form!"

"Griffin Rider, Ranger Form!"

"Phoenix Rider, Ranger Form!"

Red, yellow and blue lights hid the three teens from sight and when they faded, three superheroes stood in their place. "Let's go save Jeanie," David said.

"Ooh," Ris said as they raced out of the alley. "If she ever heard you say that, she'd kick your ass."

"Ah!" Jeanie couldn't help the short exclamation as the monster threw her in the air and batted her to the ground with a simple push of his huge paw. "Damn you," lips drawn back in an unseen snarl, she pushed herself to her feet. "You're gonna pay for that!"

She launched herself at it, slamming her body into it, sending it sliding. She caught its head with a quick one-two before laser blasts from its eyes sent her flying into a shop wall. She collapsed on the ground but still pushed herself to her feet. "Bastard." Again, she launched herself at it, leading with her feet.

She slammed into it, pushed herself off and came back with a flying roundhouse kick. She hit its head and it stumbled back with a pained howl. She took advantage of that, slamming elbow, fist, knee and foot into its body, over and over. And not noticing the glowing marshmallow until it was almost to late.

"Jeanie!"

She thought she heard David's harsh cry echo in her head seconds before the blast enveloped her, sending her soaring to the air, pain coursing like wildfire in her veins. She barely felt her body hit the ground through the bone wracking agony. She shuddered as she was forcefully de-morphed.

"Jeanie!" Eva and Ris almost slid like baseball players making a last ditch attempt for home base as they crossed the few feet separating them. "Jeanie, are you okay?"

Unconscious, Jeanie couldn't answer. David let out a roar akin to a wounded animal's. "Dragon's Sword!"

With a flash, his weapon appeared in his outstretched hand and he launched himself at the monster, light flashing on the blade of his sword as he swung it with deadly intent.

"Griffin's Bow!"

Eva's weapon appeared in her hands, and she let loose shimmering blue arrow after shimmering blue arrow to cover David as he attacked the monster.

Trev and Jay ran onto the scene, already suited up. Trev's wide eyes took one look at it and his knees nearly turned to water. "Jeanie!"

"Bastard!" Letting anger engulf fear, because anger was so much better than the paralysing fear trying to make itself known, Jay stretched out his hands. "Minotaur's Sabre!"

Following Jay's lead – because, for once, it was better than what he wanted to do – Trev held out his hands as well. "Centaur's Staff!"

With their weapons in hand, they threw themselves into battle.

"Jeanie!" Unable to do anything else, Ris shook her cousin, who looked even more paler than her usual red head complexion. Fear and grief grabbed Ris's throat, threatened to make her choke. "Jeanie, wake up! Jean, please wake up. Don't die!"

"Hey." Carefully, teeth gritted against the hurt, Jeanie managed to crack open an eyelid. "Isn't that a bit extreme?"

Tears shimmered in the Yellow Ranger's eyes and though she couldn't see them, Jeanie could hear them in her voice as Ris spoke; "hey you know me. Miss Drama Queen."

"Yeah," Jeanie opened both eyes now, and even managed a wavery grin. "Don't I know it." She struggled to sit up.

"Hey!" Ris's hands hovered over her shoulders. "Are you sure you wanna be doing that?"

"No," Jeanie said with a grim smile. "But I need to."

She managed, with Ris's help, to stand. "Okay. Let me do this bit on my own."

"If you're sure…" Ris said, worry evident in her voice.

"I'm sure."

"Okay." She backed away.

Jeanie, with her eyes on the battle raging between the monster and her fellow rangers, braced her arm across her chest. "Unicorn Rider, Ranger Form!"

Pink lights ringed her, faster and faster, until she was hidden from sight. And when, in mere milliseconds, they cleared, the Pink Spirit Rider Ranger stood where the injured girl had once slouched. She raised her hand, made a slow fist in a move that was both experimental and menacing. "Let's see how well you do fighting against _all_ the Power Rangers," she snarled. "Unicorn's Slings!"

Ris followed suit. "Phoenix's Daggers!"

With a battle cry, Ris joined the boys in their one minded attack against the monster. Trev used his staff as a sort of shield by twirling it round and round so fast it was invisible to the naked eye as the monster let out a few rounds of wild laser shots. David ducked the lasers, and, aiming for the marshmallow he'd seen let loose the laser beam that had struck Jeanie, his sword gleamed madly as he swung it. Jay used his sabre to block the monster's claws from swiping Ris as she slashed at its vulnerable belly. Jeanie and Eva provided cover fire until, with a loud cry and crash, the monster collapsed on the ground. "Now's our chance," David called out, leaping back to join Jeanie and Eva.

Trev, Ris and Jay joined them so they formed a line facing off against the beleaguered monster. "Let's blast him with the spirit cannon before he can run off again."

Within seconds, they had the Spirit Cannon formed and aimed at the monster still trying to get up. "Wait for it," Jeanie warned, muscles tensed and ready against the recoil she knew would come. "Wait for it."

The monster managed to get to its paw like feet.

"Now!"

A giant swirling grey mass exploded from the cannon's mouth, heading with unerring accuracy towards the monster. It could barely let out a yelp before it was enveloped and exploded. Smoke still filled the air as the rangers powered down.

This time David as the first to lash out; "what in hell were you thinking, going after monster yourself?"

"Oh man," Jay groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Can we do this somewhere else?" He asked. "I'm beat and I wanna sit down."

"Command base. Now." David said in a terse voice. "Eva, hold onto me."

"What?" She stared at him, as did everyone else. "Why?"

"Because we're ninja streaking," he replied and, without giving her time to argue, swept her up in his arms. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck to stop herself from falling. David gave his cousins one more hot look – especially Jeanie – before streaking off in a navy blue streak.

"Damn." Jay muttered. "He is _pissed_."

Jeanie let out a sigh. "Let's get this over with."

With that, they streaked away in lights of crimson red, regular red, yellow and green.


	8. Making up

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to Disney/Haim Saban**

They had all barely cleared the portal entrance before David started razing on Jeanie. "Are you _insane_? Going after the monster on your own! You could have been –"

"I know, I know," Jeanie interrupted in a weary voice. "I know it was a stupid thing to do."

"_Extremely_ stupid," he snapped. "What? Did a kindergartener take your brain or something?"

"David," Eva tried but Jeanie, who was getting angry now, stormed right over her.

"What was I supposed to do? Wait until you guys got there? Or maybe let the thing beat you guys up like I did last time?"

"No, jeez! Of course not! But you could have used your brain!"

"I was trying to make things right!"

"So dumping Eric wasn't enough for you? You have to go and – ow!" He winced as looked down at Eva, who he still held in his arms.

"Two things," she said, "one; either stop insulting Jeanie or shut up and let her talk. And two; put me down."

"Oh right." He turned bright red as everyone else bit back grins. The tension in the room eased a little. "Sorry."

Hurriedly, he let her down, mildly insulted when she brushed down her clothes. He rubbed the back of his neck as he turned back to Jeanie. "Sorry about that. I was beyond worried."

"I know." She slumped down onto one of the several cushions Dayton had lying about command base. "And I'm sorry. Seriously. But what was I supposed to do when the alert came on? Wait until you guys got there? At the very least, I tried to do the monster some damage."

"I've got to say this," Jay spoke up for the first time. "I would have done the same thing. There was no way I could have sat tight 'till you guys arrived."

"Me neither." Ris added.

"None of us could," Trev said seriously.

"I think someone owes someone an apology," Eva said, leaning on a nearby console, hands in her pocket. Jay smirked at the expression on David's face.

David looked at Jeanie. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." To everyone's surprise, Jeanie got up, moved forward and hugged him.

"I just don't wanna lose you," he said, hugging her back.

"You won't," she promised. He turned his head so cheek rubbed cheek in a sweet gesture before he pulled back.

Jay's eyes were wide and he pretended to brush a tear from the corner of one. "Wow." He mock sniffled. "That was so touching."

Jeanie glared at him. "Don't make me hurt you Jay."

"Well." Trev unfolded himself from the wall. "There's just one thing more to do." Without further explanation he walked through the portal and out.

Everyone turned their gaze to Jeanie. She shrugged. "Don't look at me. I've known him all my life and he's _still_ an alien species to me."


	9. Doing right by Jeanie

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to Disney/Haim Saban**

"Trev?"

It was Saturday and Trev had asked Jeanie to meet him at the park, under a tree they sometimes hung out under. He appeared from around its large trunk, dressed in a green t-shirt and jeans. Jeanie was similarly decked out in jeans and a pink top. "What's up?" She asked him, hands in her front pockets.

He leaned against the tree trunk. "Why'd you dump Eric?"

She rolled her eyes. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Why'd you dump Eric?" He repeated.

She narrowed her eyes. But she had to answer because she knew he wouldn't stop until she did. "I had too much things going on and I couldn't handle it as well as a boyfriend. Besides, I was new to the whole dating thing and I wasn't too sure how to handle it."

He frowned. "Nice excuse. The real reason."

She moved, turning so she was back to trunk, like him. "Okay. The real reason." She looked up, watched sunlight glimmer through the leaves, turning them to green gold. "You don't like Eric." She said simply.

He started. "I never said that."

She grinned. "Please. Trev, I've known you all my life. I can tell when you don't like someone and you don't like Eric. For whatever reasons, beats the hell out of me. But you don't like him and I can't hang out with someone who you don't like. It'll just make me as uncomfortable as all get out." She turned her head and found him looking at her. "'Sides, breaking up with him was the only thing I could think of to make things right."

Trev fell silent and so did she. She looked up, watched light dance through the green, green leaves.

"You know…" he spoke suddenly, in a pleasant voice. "When I said all those things, I didn't mean for you to dump the guy."

Jeanie shrugged. "Like I said; it was the only thing I could think of to make things right."

"And this is the only thing I could think of to make it right to you." He pushed off the tree, walked forward to greet a boy walking towards them.

Jeanie's eyes widened. "Eric?" She stepped forward, blinked when he gave her a huge smile and held out a hand. For the past week, he'd been hunching his shoulders and lowering his eyes whenever she'd seen him or he'd passed her. She swung her eyes to the boy standing beside him. "Trev?"

He shrugged. "I called him here. I've explained everything to him."

She narrowed her eyes. "Everything?"

He gave her an enigmatic smile and leaned forward so his lips were right next to her ear. "Well, almost everything." He straightened and took a step back. "Well, have fun." And he walked off.

Eric looked at Jeanie. "Hi."

She grinned at him. "Hi."

"Wanna catch that lunch?"

She took the hand he held out and hung tight. "Sure."

Hand in hand, they walked away.

David raised himself on his elbows, frowning. "You know what I don't get?"

Beside him, Eva was watching the stars. They were lying on his roof, with everyone else, watching the heavens. They would later go to Jeanie's house for dinner. "What?" She asked.

"Why Pleance would make a monster that we could so easily destroy."

"I've been thinking the same thing," Trev admitted, sitting up. "And why he didn't make it huge, like he did last time?"

"Afraid that our Zords would stomp its ass like we did last time?" Jay suggested.

"I seriously doubt that's it," Jeanie said in a dry voice.

"Beats me," Ris said. She turned onto her belly and propped her head on her fists.

"He's up to something." David frowned. "I just wish I knew what."

"Don't we all," Jeanie said.

"Hey," Ris said suddenly. "How'd your date with Eric go?"

Jeanie's smile went dreamy. "It was…perfect."

"You've had only two dates. What do you have to compare to?" Jay wondered aloud.

"Don't make me hurt you Jay." She warned.

"How many times have you said that?" Eva asked.

"The past week or in our lifetime?" Jay asked.

"Don't bother _trying_ to count," Trev said in a droll voice.

"Is anyone taking this monster thing seriously?" David said in a short voice, sounding annoyed.

Eva looked at him. "What's up with you?"

"There's a centuries old bad guy out there, plotting some evil scheme, and you're talking about Jeanie's _date_?"

"David." Eva sat up, as did everyone else. "We got to have a balance. You know that. If the only thing we think about is Pleance and his monsters, we're so gonna implode."

"We almost did that this week," Jeanie pointed out in a soft voice. "Because of me."

"It was my fault as well," Trev added.

"If we don't find a balance," Ris said. "If we focus solely on one thing, we'll be like…Pleance."

"Wow." Jay blinked, look at Ris. "Deep." He poked her brow. "You sure you didn't get a brain transplant?"

At that that totally ridiculous notion, everyone burst out laughing, David included. "Okay, okay, I get the point." He grinned as Eva put her arm around his waist and gave him a quick hug.

"Ooo," Jay said with a cheeky grin and raised eyebrows.

David and Eva looked at him. David narrowed his eyes. Recognising that look, Jay jumped up and raced for the roof door. David followed suit. Bursting into giggles, Ris ran to watch the show. And everyone scrambled to their feet and pursued.

Their laughter floated on the night air, to six stars that seemed to shine brighter in response. And, a few blocks away, Dayton raised his face to the night sky and smiled. "Have fun rangers," he whispered.

_And in his lair, Pleance smiled as well. "Yes," he hissed. "Have whatever fun you can in the short time you have left. Dayton." His laughter echoed throughout the liar; the mad maniacal laughter of one truly driven insane by his own evil. _

* * *

_Author's note: For those of you who've actually been following this series I'm currently working on THANK YOU FOR BEARING WITH ME!!! I'm sorry the update has taken so long...I've been moving countries, and starting boarding school and, god, I could just go on, but I just wanted to say thank you and please kep reading. :)_


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